How being aware of your emotions can make you super-productive

Learning to anticipate
your feelings is an important productivity
strategy.Flickr/Casey
Fleser

Like many people, I typically use the first few minutes of the
workday to scan my calendar for any mandatory meetings and urgent
project deadlines.

Lately though, I've added another minute or so
to my morning routine, specifically to think about how each of
these events will make me feel.

It might sound superfluous or self-indulgent,
the kind of stuff that's best relegated to the confines of
meditation studios or therapists' offices. But according to
psychologist Josh Davis, Ph.D., author of "Two
Awesome Hours," this emotional awareness and preparation can
make all the difference between a super-productive workday and a
wasted one.

That's because emotions have a huge impact on
what Davis calls our "mental energy." Emotions, Davis says, can
make it easier or harder to complete specific tasks. For example,
enthusiasm might make it simple to write a project report;
lethargy might make it more difficult.

Fortunately, there are two easy ways to manage
your emotional fluctuations so that they don't interfere with
your workflow:

1. Anticipate your feelings based on past
experience.

For instance, I've learned that if I've got an
assignment due at noon, I'll likely be anxious starting at 10
a.m., as I'm rushing to complete it. On the other hand, if
there's a team brainstorm meeting scheduled for 2 p.m., I'll
probably feel energized for the rest of the afternoon.

Once you become aware of how your emotions
will change throughout the day, you can plan your work
accordingly. When you know you'll be anxious or tired, for
example, you might check emails because that activity
doesn't require a lot of focus. And during periods when your
energy will be high, you can work on a project that requires
attention or creativity.

HarperCollins
Publishers

"Recognizing those times of the day can be a real benefit —
capturing that moment when we have the right mental energy,"
Davis says.

It sounds simple enough, but the problem is that
sometimes you don't have the flexibility to decide when you
perform specific tasks. Maybe the client needs an answer to her
email ASAP or your manager has suddenly decided that he wants to
see a copy of your project report by the end of the day.

That's where the second strategy comes
in.

2. Deliberately alter your emotional
state.

To start, Davis recommends asking yourself two
questions: "How do I feel right now?" and "How would I like to
feel right now?"

Say the answers are "tired" and "energized" and
you've got 10 minutes before a meeting. Silly as it sounds, you
could take those 10 minutes to walk up and down the stairs to
increase your energy levels or even just think about something
positive, like an upcoming vacation.

Again, it's a question of practice and
understanding what actually works to put you in a certain
emotional zone — even if just temporarily.

Once you develop that emotional awareness, you
can use it to make the most of every day, both at work
and outside it.